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If you constantly feel exhausted, experience headaches for no obvious reason or have high blood pressure, it could be the result of snoring. More than a simple annoyance, snoring is also the most common symptom of a potentially serious health problem—obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Over 18 million Americans snore, and it’s related to OSA. People who suffer from OSA repeatedly and unknowingly stop breathing during the night due to a complete or partial obstruction of their airway. It occurs when the jaw, throat, and tongue muscles relax, blocking the airway used to breathe. The resulting lack of oxygen can last for a minute or longer, and occur hundreds of times each night. Obstructive sleep apnea - OSA has been linked to:
Acid reflux
Frequent nighttime urination
Memory loss
Stroke
Depression
Diabetes
Heart attack
People over 35 are at higher risk.

OSA can be expensive to diagnosis and treat — up to $5,000 — and those treatments can sometimes be quite painful.
However, a recent study published by Eastern Virginia Medical School's Division of Sleep Medicine concluded that wearing a simple chinstrap while sleeping can be an effective treatment for OSA.

The chin strap, which is now available from a company called MySnoringSolution, works by supporting the lower jaw and tongue, preventing obstruction of the airway. It’s made from a high-tech, lightweight, and super-comfortable material. Thousands of people have used the chinstrap and reported better sleeping, and better health overall because of it.

Here are few managing options for persons who tend to snore habitually:

1. Lifestyle adjustment
For obese persons, a healthy weight loss through dietary changes and regular exercise is a necessary step to take. Alcoholics need to reduce their alcohol intake while people who smoke should quit the habit as these may be the reasons for snoring. In the same vein, avoid indiscriminate use of sedatives or tranquilizers unless prescribed by your doctor.

2. Posture adjustment and sleep position training
Since the supine sleep position tends to be associated with snoring, it should be discouraged in those who snore. Such measures include a tennis ball or some other hard object taped to the back of the person's night dress or the use of back pillows or bed wedges to prevent them from lying on the back.

3. Steroid nasal sprays and decongestants may also help to relieve nasal congestion where this is the suspected reason for snoring.

4. Other self-administered interventions include the use of nasal dilators or splints which help reduce nasal resistance and obstruction by keeping the nasal alae apart. Individuals who snore as a result of mouth-breathing may benefit from commercially available chin straps to keep the mouth closed during sleep.

5. Nonsurgical physician interventions
Failure of the above-mentioned measures may necessitate nonsurgical procedures by the physician, the most popular of which is the insertion of mandibular advancement devices for those whose snoring comes from obstruction at the tongue base or mouth breathers. Such patients can also benefit from tongue retaining devices which work by holding the front part of the tongue forward. Although many people find them rather inconvenient to use, nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices are very effective and have been shown to reduce the number of snores per hour from 154 to 3.

6. Surgical interventions
The surgical removal of the adenoids and tonsils (adenotonsillectomy) is usually done for adults and children who snore as a result of enlarged tonsils. Other surgical interventions include septoplasty (for those with deviation of nasal septum), polypectomy to remove nasal polyps, turbinate reduction, tongue base reduction as well as various palatal surgeries.